Enough
by ShadowZone85
Summary: Penny is forced to leave Pasadena behind, including Sheldon and her friends. She meets and falls for a man who is not as wonderful as he seems. Will Penny be able to keep her wits about her and avoid an untimely death? Will things ever be the same between her and Sheldon? Rated M for later chapters. Penny/OC Penny/Sheldon


**A/N: Okay, this particular story is based on a movie that I absolutely love, 'Enough' with Jennifer Lopez, and thought it would be interesting to put Penny and Sheldon in this situation. I've been in a situation similar to this and it's just an empowering story line, especially for women. There will be a lot of angst, violence, scenes of abuse, mild language, and hurt/comfort. I also think Penny seems to be the type of girl I'm playing her out to be in this story. Even though it's not an original idea, I do have one cooking up and it's gonna be a doozy. :D**

**So, follow along folks, and enjoy the ride. It's going to be a bumpy one! Cheers! :D**

...

It's been two years since I left Pasadena, left Sheldon, left my friends behind to move back to Nebraska to care for my sick mother. What made matters worse, was when my father filed for divorce just two days after she was diagnosed with Leukemia, and it absolutely crushed her, and that's why I was there, along with my sister Jessica, to provide emotional support while our mom struggled through this hard time.

After a while, my mom only receiving treatments for six months, she passed away at two thirty three in the morning. It devastated my sister and I. Now we were alone, motherless, fatherless, left to fend for ourselves in this fucked up world. We didn't even have the money to bury her, and our father had completely cut us out of his life so he refused to help with anything. Sure we had friends who tried to help us, but there was only so much they could do.

So, after Jessica and I got all of mom's legal affairs delt with, her Will and all that implies, we were able to focus on getting jobs and locating a place to share. Unfortunately, the job I ended up with was another waitress job at a loca diner called, Phil's Red Car Diner. The diner itself was built back in the fifties and still maintained a lot of that look, inside and out. I suppose the job wasn't so bad, my sister got to work there with me and everyone treated us like family.

On this particular day, something happened that I will never forget for as long as I live. This was the day I met my husband, Mike Hillard.

It was a normal day, the usual patrons of the diner bustled in and out, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Here you go, John. Pancakes with a side of bacon," I said as I handed him his breakfast plate. John was a pleasant old man, somewhere in his seventies and a regular; he tipped quite well also, so I was always as polite as I could.

"Thank you, Penny. How are things?" He asked.

"Good! How about you?" I replied.

"Oh, not too bad. The old emphysema is acting up again, but other than that I'm doing swell." John chuckled, wheezed horribly then turned a weary smile to me.

"Aw, you poor thing! Good luck with that, okay?"

John smiled, and turned to his breakfast. I left him to it and made my way behind the counter to take a new order. Yet another familiar face.

"Morning, Bill. Let me guess, ham and cheese omelette with a side of wheat toast?"

"You know me well, Penny!"

"Coming right up." I said with a smile. I handed Phil the order, and ventured off to start cleaning tables and prepare for the lunch and dinner hours.

Some time after I started cleaning, Jessica came over to help.

"So, I was thinking I might try going to college. Maybe become a lawyer. I mean, why not? Grandpa was a lawyer. Plus, I have a logical mind. It could work." Jessica said as she started placing salt and pepper shakers on the tables.

"Sure, you're only, like, what, two hundred nintey-nine thousand dollars short of what you need for law school?" I replied sarcastically.

"Piece of cake."

"Piece of pie."

"Piece of ass. So what would you do?"

"I don't know."

"Liar."

"Well, I was thinking," I said after a moment of silence, "I might go back to Pasadena. Go back to pursuing my acting career."

"And quit here? I won't allow it, Penny." Jessica said.

After a while we parted ways, Jessica going to retrieve orders, me behind the counter filling jars with syrup for the next day. God, it got so incredibly hot during this time of day. It was enough to make me want to run home and shower every ten minutes. Being near the kitchen and hot food could make a person sweat like a pig.

"Ever try the Rock?" I asked as Jessica came behind me to grab orders.

"What?"

"It's like this deodorant thing. Like salts or something. You rub it on your pits. It looks like some kind of hippie crystal."

"Are you saying I sweat?" Jessica replied, sounding a tad offended.

"No, you just..."

"Do I smell?"

"No. God..."

"Heads up, ladies," Came Phil's Italian accent from the kitchen window.

We both looked up to see a rather cute guy walk in holding his jacket, a book and a single red rose. He took a seat in the center booth, opened up his book and began to read. I never trusted these types, it's always the quiet ones you got to look out for, and for him to be carrying a single rose just made him all the more suspicious

"Okay. Your turn." Jessica said, but when I gave her a 'I don't think so' look, she continued, "I'm sweating too much."

I sighed. Whatever. I was done with the syrup anyway. I grabbed my pen and pad, a menu, put on my best smile and made my way towards the new comer.

"You waiting for somebody?" I asked as I handed him the menu. He looked up at me, shrugged and smiled. I gave him a tiny smile back and continued, "Something to drink?"

"Just water, thanks." He replied, his condescending smile never leaving his lips. I so did not like this guy.

"Well, I'll give you a minute to look at the menu." I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my wrist and held me there for a second, then let go. Dude was really starting to push my buttons.

"That's okay, I was in here yesterday...Penny. Name's Robbie. I'll have the soup, turkey burger, coleslaw, couple of extra slices of tomato." He said.

I wrote down his order and left with haste, but just before I got far enough away from him he started talking again.

"I write books. Do you read books? What are you reading now?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was he flirting with me? Oh, honey, you are _so_ not my type, but alright, I play your game. "You know Finnegans Wake by James Joyce?" I asked, when he nodded I continued, "A friend of mine told me it's the hardest book in the English language. I mean, not the hardest hardest, but the hardest one that you can actually read. So, I thought to myself, if I can get through it, I could probably read the rest."

"How long have you been reading it?" He asked, seemingly impressed.

"Six years. I'll be back with your soup." With that I stomped off. Man what an ass!

I reached the touch screen computer and entered in his order so I could give him his bill. I'll be glad when he leaves, and hopefully he got the hint and wouldn't return.

"He likes you." Came Jessica's voice, making me flinch at her statement. Of course, any guy that shows any interest in me she assumes he'd be a perfect match.

"He's a dick." I replied, pushing the 'print bill' button on the screen.

"He was in here yesterday, you know?"

"I know."

"Now he's back today, he brought a rose, he pulls you into conversation. Are you seeing where I'm going with this?"

"Okay, so he likes me. So what?" I retorted, feeling the agitation return.

"So, do you like him?" She asked.

"I don't know him!" I replied, a little more harshly than I wanted.

"What's that got to do with anything? He's a major piece of cake, piece of pie. Trust me, okay? He's carrot cake," Jessica pleaded. All I could do was sigh. Maybe she's right, but since Sheldon and I parted ways I've been in anti-dating mode. I still love Sheldon, and it broke my heart to tell him that I wasn't coming back because I couldn't leave my sister on her own. It hurt me even more to listen to nothing but dead silence before Sheldon finally said, 'good luck to you' and hung up. I just wasn't ready to go back to dating, but at the same time I knew there was no hope for me and Sheldon now, and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life alone. I pushed those thoughts out of my head in time to hear my sister say, "And when a guy like that, who's actually cuter than you, likes you..."

"Whoa, hold up." I cut her off, "He's cuter than me?"

"Face it, Penny, no one will ever go for you because of your looks." She replied, a playful smirk upon her lips.

"Well, that sucks," I shot back, "because my personality bites." With that I grabbed a bowl of soup, some crackers and walked off, turning to give my sister a playful smirk of my own.

I approached the guy with some trepidation, but I had a job to do. I placed his bowl of soup on the table, and when he looked up at me, the smile he offered was genuine, gentle, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"You don't really write books, do you?" I asked after a moment.

Robbie sighed and smiled. "No, I don't," he replied.

"Yeah? Well, I haven't really been reading Finnegans Wake either." I admitted with another smile of my own.

"I'm going into law...enforcement." He said.

"Law enforcement? That's a good job." I replied, then glancing at the rose I said, "Who's the rose for?"

Once again he smiled at me and shrugged. Yeah, he's too good to be true. I just knew it. I just smiled back and said, "Enjoy your grub, huh?" I turned to leave, cursing myself for taking the chance and trusting Jessica's judgement.

"Hey!" I heard him call out to me. I sighed and turned to face him with raised eyebrows. He had the rose in his hand and he pointed it at me. "You."

Just as a smile started to pull at the corners of my mouth, a man sitting behind him turned, looked at me then back to Robbie and said, "How much did you settle on?"

"Excuse me?" Robbie replied, looking from the other guy and back to me.

"The bet. How much is it?" Bet? What the fuck was going on here? Suddenly the other guy stood up and confronted Robbie face to face. "You and your friend, yesterday, was it two or five hundred?"

"What?" I asked, finally having heard enough and deciding to speak up.

"He bet his friend...that he could get into your pants by noon tomorrow." The guy replied.

_What_?

"Is this your business? What are you the morals police?" Robbie said, standing up to face the other guy and standing just inches away from his face. The other guy grabbed hold of the scruff of Robbie's shirt. "Take it easy, man. I was just having some fun."

"So, was it two or five hundred? I mean, I wanna know what I'm worth." I asked Robbie, completely flabbergasted by the turn of events.

"The bet was for two," Robbie replied, a hint of a sneer in his voice, "but now I know you; way too high." With that, he grabbed his jacket and left.

Wow. I've delt with some pretty slimey guys, but this guy took the cake. No one had ever bet to get in my pants before. Ugh, just the idea of letting that guy get with me made me feel dirty. Gross.

"Hey, I'm sorry to get in your business." The other guy suddenly spoke, jarring me from my thoughts.

"No. Thanks. I'm surrprise you actually said something." I said, truly thankful that he did. It would have been a bad mistake waiting to happen if he hadn't.

"Well, I'd have felt bad about it...if I'd have kept quiet. Good luck, huh?" And with a tender smile, he left.

His words were so sweet, and my heart gave an involuntary flip. A sense of emptiness overwhelmed me then as I watched him leave. I've been alone for some time now, and for a man, who didn't know me what so ever, to stick up for me and put a stop to the ugly situation, was not common. And just as he reached for the door, I had the sudden urge to stop him.

Racing forward, I grabbed his arm and he stopped to look at me. "Uh, my name is, Penny."

My name is Penny? That's all I could think of to say? Ugh, I am so lame. But to my relief the guy chuckled.

"I'm Mike. Mike Hillard."

...

**A/N: So this is my first full length Shenny fic. Let me know what you all think so far and if I should continue. Be gentle now.**


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